Devil's Playground
by lilmickey2008
Summary: The most ironic thing that I ever heard was that the most beautiful flowers can be produced from the ugliest soil. Living through a zombie apocalypse proves that is possible...
1. The Day Hell Broke Loose

**Author's Note: Okay, I am reading** _ **The Walking Dead**_ **graphic novels, and this following story is inspired by the same graphic novels that I mentioned earlier. This is a work in progress, so if I get some things wrong here and there, I apologize, and any help will be greatly appreciated. This is also a girl/girl story, but do give this a read anyway. With that in mind, please enjoy.**

 **Chapter One: The Day Hell Broke Loose**

Have you ever had a bad feeling that wouldn't go away? It's the feeling that is like you know that something bad or horrible is going to happen, and there is nothing that you can do about it. Well, to be honest here, the only thing that you can do about it is wait or the utter hell you know with every fiber of your being, and every ounce of common sense in your mind, to break loose.

Anne Crane wasn't the one that was feeling like that. She knew that while there was bad people out there, as long as there were some good people in the world, it was going to be alright. She had the mind set that if something bad went wrong, she would be able to at worst handle it.

The problem was with Anne's girlfriend, Veronica Steel. She was a preschool teacher, so she was already with that kind of motherly instinct, and was always on the lookout for something that made her look around for any trouble. That is one of the things that Anne loved about her, that Veronica was protective of any one that she cared about, especially Anne.

Anne would do her best to ease Veronica's troubled mind, and any other time, she would be able to do it no problem. This time was different, something was really troubling her, and for Anne, it made her do something that she really never had to do.

Worry.

* * *

It was late at night, and Anne was sound asleep in the bedroom that she shared with Veronica. She was able to get asleep sure enough, but Veronica began to toss and turn a few hours in. Anne reached over to Veronica's side of the bed, and didn't feel her there.

"Ronnie?" Anne called, flipping on the light as she looked around for her. She kicked off the sheets, and walked downstairs, looking around for her.

"Ronnie?" Anne called out again.

"Living room." Veronica called back to her. Anne walked into their living room, and saw Veronica staring out at the nighttime in her t-shirt.

"What's wrong?" Anne said. She knew her long enough to know when there was something really bothering her.

"I had a really bad nightmare." Veronica said.

"Oh? What happened?" Anne asked her.

"It was scary." Veronica said. "It was like the world has ended. There were zombies everywhere, and the last humans were forced to fight off these zombies like every other day. Things just got worse and worse every day."

"Jesus." Anne said.

"It gets worse." Veronica said. Her voice was shaking, and in the moon light, Anne could see tears in the corners of her eyes. "Somehow, I got bitten by one of those things, and I turned into a zombie. You tried to keep me around, but you had to kill me..."

Anne stood there speechless. It was obvious that this dream was really bothering her, and the severity of that dream bothered Anne. All she could do was walk up from behind, and hug her girlfriend.

"Babe, if anything bad happens, I am here to protect you, okay?" Anne said.

"I know that. Thank you." Veronica said, returning the sign of affection.

* * *

The next day, Anne got a call from her boss, who said that it was urgent, and she needed her to come in. Anne saw Veronica off to her school, and Anne herself headed right over there to see what her boss wanted.

She scanned her pass, walked through the building and said hello to all of her friends and coworkers there, and went right to her boss's office.

"Miss Miller, you wanted to see me?" Anne asked softly.

"Yeah, come in." Miss Miller said. Anne closed the door behind her, and sat in a chair in front of her desk.

"What's wrong?" Anne asked her.

"Well, one of our employees, Sgt. Cal Dunes, didn't show up for work today, and he wasn't answering his phone, so I want you to go out to his address, and see what's wrong. He or his wife are not answering their calls, so it is worrying everyone that they know." Miss Miller said.

"Why me?" Anne said.

"I contemplated calling the cops, but he might just be at home sick, and forgot to call in. Besides that, if anything does jump off, you have your piece, and you are able to take care of yourself.

"Okay then, I will go see what's up with him." Anne said. She quietly said her goodbyes, and was out the door to see what was wrong here.

* * *

Anne did exactly what she was told, and after a few minutes of driving, she pulled up in front of Sgt. Dunes house. She stepped out of her car, and walked right up to the front door. She glanced around as she walked to the door, and nothing really looked out of place, nor that she could have noticed.

"Dunes? It's Anne." She said as she rap with her knuckles on the door. No answer.

"Dunes!" Anne shouted, knocking again. She knocked even harder, and the door opened automatically.

"Dunes, I am coming in!" Anne announced. She stepped inside, and no more than a step in the house, she noticed signs of a struggle.

Seeing the possibilities of a burglary or robbery in progress, she drew her weapon, and continued to walk through the house. She took a look around, and noticed the more she walked through the house, the worse things looked.

As she moved towards the back of the home, she heard moaning, and strangely enough, the sound of someone eating something.

She turned the corner, and saw Sgt. Dunes, kneeling over his wife.

"Dunes, it's me. Lt. Crane." Anne said, slowly approaching him.

Dunes finally turned around, but what Anne saw, shocked the Lieutenant to her very core. A quarter of Dunes's head was gone, and he was moaning like a zombie.

"Jesus..." Anne said as she reluctantly took a step forward. Dunes growled barbarically, and charged right at her. Anne didn't want to fire her gun, and when Dunes tried to grab her, she flipped him on the ground, and he crashed with a thud.

Anne looked behind her at Dunes's wife, and saw that she began to reanimate as well. She got to her feet, moaning like her husband, but Anne saw that she had her intestines falling out of her body.

"God. What the hell is happening here?" Anne whispered to herself.

Miss Dunes began to stalk towards Anne just as her husband began to stand up on his own. Anne felt them closing in on her at the same time, and she ducked just in time for the couple to crash head first into each other.

Anne sighed as they both got up again, and still began to try and get at her.

"Okay, enough is enough." Anne said. She raised her gun, waited for the perfect shot. Once their heads were lined up perfectly, she fired. The shot went through their brains, killing them both.

It took a moment for Anne to register what just happened, then she remembered what Ronnie told her the night before. Was the world ending, or was this something even more ominous than that?

* * *

Anne stood against her car and watched as various cops, investigators, and ambulance workers entered what was Sgt. Dunes home and came back out. It still rattled her, seeing what happened, but she had to do what she had to do. What really bothered her was the fact that they were both like zombies, the same type of creatures that Ronnie told her that she dreamed about. No way was this an isolated incident.

"Lt. Crane." Miss Miller said. "How are you holding up?"

"Well enough." Anne said. "I hated having to do that to them, but they attacked me, what was I supposed to do?"

"What happened in that house supports the claim that they attacked you, but the way that their bodies were brings up just what happened to them." Miss Miller said.

"You know that I didn't kill them, right?" Anne said.

"I believe you, but we still have to find out what happened to them. So, as you know, you can't leave town while we sort this out." Miss Miller said.

"I know, just what was he doing though that could explain this to him and his wife?" Anne asked her.

"I guess that he was doing something secretive, and that turned him into that zombie, and his wife was collateral damage." Miss Miller said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Christ." Anne said.

"Yeah. Whatever you stumbled on, it's big, and it is going to get worse." Miss Miller warned her.

* * *

Anne quietly pulled up to Ronnie's school, and saw some cars there, but not many. Most of the staff at the school left for the night. Anne needed to talk to Ronnie, and seeing as how she was able to go in and talk to her now, without interference most likely, she could do that.

Anne got out of her car, and walked towards her classroom. She did not want Ronnie to sit in the school by herself after dark. Ronnie, most likely, was setting up her class for the next day, and Anne would go and sit with her while she did what she needed to do.

As Anne walked through the halls towards Ronnie's class, she had the thoughts of having a child. It was something that she had thought about, but with her sexuality and preference to women, she wasn't able to have one on her own. It was something that she had to talk to Ronnie about.

As she approached her classroom, she heard Ronnie scream, and a table being flipped over, along with various things being thrown around.

"Stay away from me!" Ronnie screamed.

Anne kicked the door open, and saw a zombie approaching her. Anne, thinking quickly on her feet, grabbed a flag pole, and stuck it through the zombie's head, killing it instantly.

"Ronnie, are you alright?" Anne asked, helping her girlfriend to her feet.

"What the hell? What was wrong with him?" Ronnie asked her.

"It was a zombie." Anne said.

"A zombie? What the hell? Where did that come from?" Ronnie asked Anne.

"Something big is going on, this isn't the first time that these things have popped up today." Anne said. "I had to neutralize two of these things earlier today."

"Anne, if something terrible is going to happen to us, would you tell me? I know that you have to keep a secret, but would you tell me if you could, right?" Ronnie said, looking at her with those blue eyes that made her fall in love with her in the first place.

"Sure, babe. Of course I would." Anne said.

* * *

After the cops secured the scene, answered all of the questions that the investigators asked the couple, Anne and Veronica went on home. They talked about everything that went on that day, and they finally went to sleep as nightfall descended upon them.

Once she was sure that Anne was asleep, Veronica slipped from Anne's loving grip, and walked towards the bathroom. She began to sweat heavily, and as she turned on the light, she began to feel more than a little nauseated. She carefully closed the door as to not disturb Anne, and then she lifted up her shirt.

That bite mark that was there was a sign that she was eventually going to turn into one of those things eventually. She wanted to tell Anne about what happened before she got there, but she knew that it would kill her eventually about the fact that she was unable to protect her.

"Sorry, Anne..." Veronica said, tears growing in her eyes. She shut off the light, and returned to bed, knowing that the worse of this situation has yet to come.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Okay, once I already got an idea as to where this story is going. The next chapter is going to be posted soon enough once I get the chance to type it and make adjustments on it. Thanks for reading!**


	2. The Frightening Truth

**AN: Well, in the last chapter that I did, Anne and her girlfriend were living in their town. As they were going about their lives, the outbreak started to take place. Anne went to check on a person that she worked with, only to find that he and his wife were zombies. After neutralizing him, Anne immediately went to check on Ronnie, only to find her being attacked by a zombie. Anne saved her, but things are going to turn in the near future.**

 **Quick Note: Again, I added more to the chapter that I already did, and with that little addition, the story is finished now.**

 **Chapter Two: The Frightening Truth**

The moment that the next morning rolled around, Anne and Veronica were rudely awaken from their peaceful sleep by some loud knocking coming from their front door.

"Wha... who the hell is that?" Anne asked, sitting up in the bed.

"It's barely a minute after eight." Ronnie said, looking over at the clock.

"Wait here, I will see who it is." Anne said. She kicked off the bed sheet that covered the both of them, and walked towards the front door. She calmly opened it, only to see a soldier in combat gear.

"Sir, what brings you here?" Anne asked him.

"Ma'am. We were ordered to move everyone in this radius down to the nearby shelter." The soldier said.

Anne was about to ask why, but then she knew why. Those zombies that she did away with yesterday had something to do with this. Made sense really. Until the higher ups knew exactly what was going on, try and save those who aren't affected.

"Okay, where are we headed?" Anne asked him.

"Miller Hawthorne Shelter." He said.

"Do we have time to pack some things?" Anne asked.

"Yes ma'am. You have time to do that, you have to be there in an hour." The soldier said.

"Okay. Thanks." Anne said, quietly closing the door. Anne then went back to the bedroom, seeing Veronica sitting there, legs crossed on the bed.

"What happened? What's going on?" Ronnie asked her.

"We have to go to the Hawthorne shelter." Anne said. "They are moving everyone in the neighborhood down there."

"Is it because of the zombies?" Ronnie said frightfully.

"Most likely." Anne said. "We have an hour to pack, so grab some things."

"On it." Ronnie said. She kicked off the sheets, and went into the closet, grabbing some things.

Anne did the same thing, grabbing some necessities, and when she saw that Ronnie was not looking, grabbed a small black velvet box. She took a deep breath, knowing that now was not the time to ask. She was not going to leave this here, knowing that she might not be back here.

"Ready!" Ronnie called out.

"I'm ready too. Let's get out of here." Anne said, snapping herself out of her momentary trance.

 _Maybe, maybe soon..._

* * *

Anne and Veronica arrived at the shelter, and quickly settled in to their location, or home however you want to phrase it. Anne sighed, and threw her luggage on the bed as Veronica did the same right across from her.

"What's wrong?" Veronica asked her.

"I don't know. I just get the feeling that something big is happening." Anne said. Veronica sat on the bed, and looked at her girlfriend.

"What do you think is happening?" Veronica asked her.

"I can't explain it." Anne said, bringing her voice down to a whisper. Veronica raised an eyebrow, knowing that meant that she was about to say something that was only meant for her.

"I think, and I honestly believe that the nearby military was doing some testing, and it got out of control, and this is the result." Anne said.

"Really?" Veronica asked her.

"I think so. I am speculating, so..." Anne trailed off.

"I really do know you, and I believe that something else is bothering you." Veronica said.

"It's nothing, really." Anne said, lying. She lied because this was not the time or place to ask _that_ , but what if she was not only right, but it was worse than she imagined?

* * *

As the day went on, Veronica and Anne were able to settle in with little to no trouble. Anne was dressed in her fatigue bottoms, and sleeveless army shirt. Ronnie was in her usual skirt and floral top. Anne was asked to help out keeping the peace in the center, and that is what she was doing now. Veronica quietly sat in their room, quietly wondering what was going on outside in their neighborhood.

She knew that whatever was going on, it wasn't good, nor could it have been good for her. She went into the bathroom, and turned on the light. Veronica lifted up her shirt, and saw the bite mark that she had received earlier. To her horror and disheartenment, it seemed to be getting infected. She knew that she had to tell Anne about it, but how was she going to break it to her?

Veronica exited the bathroom and sat on their bed, just in time to see Anne come back into the room, looking really worried by the look on her face.

"Babe, what's wrong?" Veronica asked her.

"Things are really bad, even worse than expected." Anne said.

"Why? What happened out there?" Veronica asked her.

"Whatever I dealt with, is all over." Anne said. "Ronnie, from what I heard, some of the other soldiers that I worked with talked about some soldiers having to kill some looters downtown that looked like zombies."

"How were they transformed into zombies?" Veronica asked Anne.

"Beats me." Anne said, shrugging her shoulders. "What I speculated earlier I believe is happening. Some of the higher ups did an experiment, it got out of control and out of their hands, now they have one hell of a mess to deal with."

"Wow. That is one way of dealing with it, I guess." Veronica said. "How are they going to deal with things now, I wonder."

"I have no honest idea." Anne said. "I think that they are going to try and cover it up, and that could mean almost anything."

"You sound nervous the way you are talking about these things." Veronica said.

"I know. It scares me babe." Anne said. "I am worried that something might happen to one of us. It would kill me if something happened to you."

"Nothing is going to happen to either of us." Veronica said. "You just worry about keeping your head on your shoulders, and we will be all right."

Anne smiled, and kissed her lightly. She pulled her close, and hugged her, feeling all was right with the world in her girlfriend's arms.

Veronica felt the same way, but as time ticked away, she felt that she was literally slipping away from Anne. Time was ticking away, and she felt like something or someone was going to take her away from Anne, but what was she going to be able to do about it?

* * *

The days came and went, and time went on with little or no news as to what was going on. That right there meant one of two things. One, things were going well, and that things were clearing up. That was not unlikely. Two, things that were going on and happening were way worse, and the higher ups were trying to figure out how to cover up the mess that they caused.

Anne and Veronica were suddenly awoken from their peaceful slumber by someone knocking on their front door. Anne slid on a pair of sweat shorts and a tank top. Then she went to answer the door.

"Yeah, can I help you?" Anne asked the man at the door.

"Ma'am, the shelter is doing a blood dragnet to see if any of the residents here are infected." The man said.

"Oh, alright then. Where do we go to take the blood test?" Anne asked the man.

"Down the street to the Morrison Clinic. Do you know where that is?" He asked.

"I can find it." Anne said.

"Alright. If you need instructions, ask the clerk downstairs." He said.

"Thanks." Anne said, closing the door. Anne turned to Veronica, who was still sleeping.

 _I'll tell her when she wakes up._ Anne said, heading to the bathroom. She was unaware that Veronica was already up, hearing the entire thing and her mind was racing a mile a minute.

 _God, what am I going to do now!?_

* * *

Once Veronica woke up the next morning, Anne told her that they were going to have to go and take a blood test that morning. Veronica was obviously nervous about going to do it, but she went along with it. She knew that she had to find a way to tell Anne what happened to her.

So, she volunteered to drive to the blood center that they had to go do.

As they were about to arrive at the center, Anne thought that she was going to pull into the parking lot, but Veronica just gunned it past the place.

"Wait! Ronnie, what the hell are you doing!?" Anne asked didn't say a word, but she just kept driving. After about ten minutes of Veronica driving like a maniac, she got to the outskirts of a forest like area. She hit the brakes, and got out and ran into the woods.

Anne was out of their car, and running after her within moments of the car stopping.

* * *

Anne wondered just what the hell was going on with Veronica to make her flip out like that. She was still chasing after her, and saw that she was standing near a tree, most likely trying to catch her breath. Anne sighed and approached her quietly.

"Ronnie, what's going on? You can tell me." Anne said sweetly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Veronica stepped away from her, and quietly lifted her shirt, revealing a badly infected bite on her lower back.

"What? When did that happen?" Anne said, inspecting the bite mark on her body.

"Ten minutes before you found me at school." Veronica said sadly. "It has been getting worse and worse."

"Maybe we can get you some help somewhere..." Anne said.

"Don't try and fool yourself." Veronica said. "You know damn well what is going to happen to me. I am going to turn into one of those things that are walking around. If not that, the military is going to have me killed."

"Don't say that!" Anne said. "Look...we...we...can..."

"Can what? Anne, you don't have the answer for this, but I do." Veronica said.

"What? What are you talking about?" Anne asked her.

"Anne, I love you, and I am sorry, but I have to do this." Veronica said.

Anne watched as Veronica pulled out Anne's service pistol, and placed it against the side of her head.

"Ronnie, no!" Anne screamed as she pulled the watched helplessly as her body fell to the ground, lifeless.

Anne just held Ronnie close to her, and sobbed silently.

 **THE END**


End file.
